The Hoi Polloi

And rant and complain and grumble and quetch and bitch and moan and bemoan and wail and bewail and...and bellyache and gripe and snarl and jabber and spout and snap and rave and claptrap and harangue and grouch and bleat and ...and...and...details about my life and career and inspirations. Welcome.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Internet down

Streamyx. Hmph. If they never kena tiao even just once they'll never keep up their adequate service. Internet was down 5 days past. Just got it back today. Phew...

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Compromise!

Oh man. Yesterday I experienced THE most compromising situation of my entire freaking life.

I had to check that suspicious e-mail. I had to take a look. Arrrghh I had to EVERYTHING!

I just got back from the Adobe Production Studio Suite launch seminar at J.W. Marriott, and took a nap. Mundanely enough I woke up again around 3:30 a.m. to start work on my project. But before that i did the customary checking of my e-mails and other messages. And everyone had just gone in to sleep. So i did just that.

Among the new mails i got was one from my pal (won't say who), which subject is, 'dun work so hard, try to relax', and it was an .avi file. Thinking it was a funny advert or joke, i saved it and opened it up to view.

Hell.

It was a 1-minute porn video clip of a masturbating teen girl. T'was the first time i received such a thing over my e-mail. I was caught off-guard. I was rendered powerless under a strong mind-numbing immobilising spell! Crap. I slobbered (eyes open wide with tongue out, okay) helplessly over my new prize. Like a dog in heat.

Then came the compromising part.

Just when i thought everyone was asleep, ten seconds into the damned thing my mom came out of her room into the hall where i worked. And I didn't notice shit. I must've looked like King Kong spying on Ann Darrow playing with herself. Gandalf watching Samwise and Frodo doin' it secretly. "Julius? Why aren't you sleep?" mom blurted out. Whoa. Okay. I jolted upright in supershock. Sweat was breaking out everywhere, hyperventilating. Too late to press the little small x at the right-hand corner of the window. I missed it completely anyway and maximised the damn media player instead.

There goes the dedicated, hardworking-boy image. Mom must be thinking i watched porn every night. Dammit. I am innocent I tell you. Innoceeeeeeennnt...!! [falling into a black, bottomless pit, all the while shaking a defiant fist at audience]

First time such a fuckup was happening. It was hard to sleep that night. Kept thinking unsavory thoughts. Being an amateur, I prayed so hard before finally falling asleep. God must've been crossing his arms and giving me that 'I told you so' smug smile, but listening anyway. Dunno how to deal with it the next morning. However it was all okay - my mom, she was understandibly SLIGHTLY nervous, and all apologetic-like to me. She never questioned me, and she kept on talking about how it was time to shoo out my leeching, working, 4k-a-month second bro and let me have a room of my own at last. Ach...and all the time i said nothing. Even though mom's tones imply 'no worries, everything's alright', I felt like a total idiot. Or more correctly, a total jerk.

Oh well, i'm just glad it ended sorta okay, praise God. I swear I'll never open video files like that again, or devise a better alarm system...

So kids, the lesson to learn from all this is, NEVER watch porn - even if you are *checking*, or *researching cinematography*, or just plain enjoying it.

And if you do, DON'T share it, especially if your friend to share with is an idiot.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Chicken Little: A movie review.

I watched Disney's newest feature around a week or two after it was premiered, 'Chicken Little' and my first impression of the film was, heeeeaahhh hmm.

Why write a review about it only NOW, for goodness sake?

One thing though - the film, which is Disney's first ever 3D animation, failed to wow me terribly. Thing was, many thought it was good. Then I thought ok, why not give it a second try. Maybe I'll change my mind and notice things i haven't noticed before. Alas, nope, second helpings of that movie didn't alter my perception of it either. In fact, second helpings further worsen my views of that movie. So did the third helping sometime after that. And so on.

I had enough. Cut this shit. I faced the fact. I don't like it. Just like some of the newer Disney cartoons lately. I watched Lilo and Stitch, I hated the concept and the unoriginal designs and ideas. I watched the Atlantises, I don't hate it, but i don't like it either. I watched Brother Bear, mweh so what. I watched Treasure Planet, I bolted after the first 30 minutes. And now Chicken Little. ( *_*' ) Pfeh.

Disney announced that it's not going to do any more traditional hand-drawn style animation, and it's all 3D from now on. All the years of watching Disney ever since Aladdin 2, it's all downhill from then on. 2D or 3D, it doesn't matter. I don't care what technique Disney uses. My ultimate conclusion is that Disney has all the technique and expertise it needs, only lacks the kick when it comes to churning up original stories. When Disney's run out of fairy tales and fables, that's it mate, you've had your lot. That's my personal discovery. When it comes to original tales and new stories, I'd choose Dreamworks second to Pixar anytime over Pisney. Uh sorry. Disney.

On to Chicken Little.

It's really impressive how many accomodated pop songs and music can they cram into the entire movie (e.g. Abby and Runt's Spice Girl duet, I am the Champion by Chicken Little, ending part Ain't No Mountain High Enough), apart from the original score. I think it's just degraded the overall movie's music quality and purely irritating. Those songs are whored to boost up the atmosphere when the scenes start to become tedious and boring. It's too dependent on these pop songs, just too too too much hoo-haa and utterly not necessary.

I won't comment much on the animal characters of CK, because it's minor and not a significant issue and it's, after all, characters. However, when it comes to designs that matters like the aliens and their ships and stuff - things that will hold a lasting impression on the viewer about the movie itself - one word: BANAL. Family aliens. ENGLISH-speaking with American accent aliens. Octopus-resembling robots. Aren't all of these elements(and many others i won't mention) somehow a little too terran(earth)-originated? Furthermore, the alien robots are a little easy to be put off just by the throw of a trash can lid, don't you think? After all that hullabaloo i found myself thinking: "What a freakin War of the Worlds ripoff!" And the fact that Abby Mallard said, "It's like War of the Worlds out there!" in the part where she came to fetch CK and his dad Buck Cluck out of the theatre was like assuming the audiences were ignorant and Abby's saying it like it was the discovery of the millenium. That had me rolling my eyes, seriously. Speaking of eye-rolling, we can definitely do without the excess smart-mouth remarks and lip. I definitely cannot stand some of the hackneyed and irksome ad-libs. Whoyoutalkingabout? Why Chicken Little, of course.

In another related case, Lilo and Stitch suffers from the same symptoms as CK. What's up with the hot-rod alien fighters? And the alien policecruisers for crying out loud?? And the humanoid weapons and characters? Are they running out of ideas?! I'd really expect something better of Disney. Looks like Sci-Fi is not really Disney's forte, i must say.

If I could re-make the Mortal Kombat game and put in CK characters in them instead of the usual MK characters, I'd do a big, bloody-looking red word that says 'BANALITY' instead of 'FATALITY' during the finishing move. And add more gore.

Sincerely, I apologise to the fans of Chicken Little. This review was written with as little prejudice as possible, i swear.

Sad to say, Disney has become like our National car maker PROTON. You know what to expect with every new product unleashed:DISAPPOINTMENT.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The day Jouleous got CHARR-ed.

YAAAAAYYYYY what a pleasant surprise - today at 3:57 a.m. precisely I got an SMS from Auday, an Iraqi friend whom I got to know during my first few weeks working in Inspidea. He asked me how I was doing and how's my health and what not. Wow. I thought he had forgotten me. Looks like there are still SOME forces of good in this world. I replied that I was well and such, and currently resuming studies, and this and that. I typed quite alot. I also asked him how he was and why the sudden SMS, at such an ungodly hour.

He replied, "ooo I got promotional package for free SMS worth RM17 (or some such), I'm left with RM2 I'm just finishing it thats why i msg u bye."

........

Nyah mah foo lat. So he msg'ed me just to finish up his free SMS credits. Well, char kao me in the bawls.

All that feelings of goodness for nothing. All that finger exercise for nothing. Dew#*&*!@...

About Me

Much as I want to think myself as someone exotic, someone with an exciting personality who leads a rebellious lifestyle like a rule-breaking ass-kicking ronin, the horrible truth is that I'm just an ordinary, mundane individual getting thru his boring life in the 21st century. Heh. Just like you.